‘Some people believe that football is matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude, it is much, much more important than that.’
Bill Shankly

Sunday, May 29, 2016

The European Champions Cup was true to
expectations right to the final, save for one surprise. One, but
huge: in the first round the reigning cup holders were eliminated by
CSKA (Sofia). The Bulgarians won both legs against Nottingham Forest
– 1-0 each match. True, Nottingham Forest were never overwhelming
team and already showed signs of reaching the top of their potential
and losing interest. True, CSKA dethroned Ajax in 1973 and by 1980
managed to build new strong team after years of uncertainty, lead by
young talented coach Asparoukh Nikodimov. But it was great surprise
nevertheless: Bulgarian teams never performed well against British
teams and Nothingham was the best team in the world at the moment.
Reason failed, the underdogs won.

Georgy Iliev (CSKA, in white) tackles
Frank Gray – determined Bulgarians won and the days of Nottingham
Forest were over. Forever.

The draw was easy on the favourites
all the way to the ¼ finals and CSKA was lucky too – they played
against Szombierki (Bytom) in the second round. The weakest ever
Polish champion was no match and lost both legs. In the ¼ finals
CSKA met the second English representative – Liverpool – and this
time nothing unusual happened: Liverpool, in perfect form, destroyed
the mavericks 5-1 and 1-0. Only Inter (Milan) and Crvena zvezda
(Belgrade) was tough pair and after the first leg the Yugoslavian
champions seemingly had the edge – they managed a 1-1 tie at the
inhospitable Italian ground. In Belgrade Inter won 1-0 and qualified.

No more easy games at the semi-finals:
Liverpool vs Bayern and Real Madird vs Inter. All former Champions
Cup winners with great ambitions. Real won 2-0 at home and lost only
0-1 away, thus reaching the final for the first time since 1966.
Bayern survived in Liverpool – 0-0 – but Liverpool was not giving
up: 1-1 in Munich. The away goal qualified Liverpool, may be luckily.

On May 27, 1981 Liverpool and Real
Madrid met at Parc de Princes, Paris. In front of over 48 000
spectators, not the greatest crowd attending a final, the opponents
had a lot at stake: Liverpool wanted their 3rd Cup –
Real Madrid its 7th. Perhaps the pressure was more on the
Spaniards – their fantastic dominance in the late 1950s and early
1960s was a heavy burden. The club lost a lot of its aura after 1966
and was desperate to restore its fame as a world football leader. But
times changed... the battle was heavy and not very inspiring.

Laurie Cunningham in attack – an
Englishman against English team made largely of Scots.

Liverpool defended well, not forgetting
to attack. As a whole, they were slightly better, but the strikers
were unable to put the ball behind the goalkeepers.

Near the end a goal was scored at last
– Alan Kennedy, the left full back of Liverpool, gave the lead to
the British in the 82nd minute. And they preserved it to
the final whistle.

After that – happy winners Graeme Souness, Kenny Dalglish, and Alan Hansen make their lap of triumph.

Real Madrid was perhaps bitterly disappointed – no 7th Cup for them – but the truth was they did not really deserve it. Compared to Liverpool, Real was inferior team. Yes, they had Stielike, Santillana, Camacho, Del Bosque, Juanito, Cunningham, but the defense was rather ordinary. Even in the 1970s Real had stronger squads. They fought, but it was clear that winning would have been possible only with grit and cunning. Real had to wait and reshape before winning anything in Europe.

Kings of Europe for a third time. What more to say? Liverpool came even with the great teams of the early 1970s – Ajax and Bayern – thus becoming one of the greatest clubs ever. In consistency and wise policy they surpassed everybody: Real was unable to keep excellent squad after 1966, Ajax disintegrated after 1973, Bayern had 5 miserable years after their last triumph, but Liverpool kept strong squad since 1964, which seemingly was only getting better and stronger. Changes were carefully made and those gone were replaced by new excellent players. Not long ago Kevin Keegan was the bog star – and he still was arguably the best European player – but Liverpool had a new emperor, Kenny Dalglish, and better don't ask who was the better player – he or Keegan. New boys were pushing ahead all the time: Hansen, Alan Kennedy, Johnson, Lee. A national team player – Case – was already reduced to a substitute. Liverpool was already a legend and beloved across the world. With them, the English club dominance continued: the European Champions Cup was kept in England for a straight 5th year and rightly so: European football became too tactical and physical. The English teams were the only ones playing brave attacking football – the fans liked that. It was only fair Liverpool to win and they did. Kings of Europe indeed.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Sunday, May 8, 2016

First Division – Campeonato
Metropolitano – had one hopeless outsider and two teams competing
for the title. Colon (Santa Fe) was the outsider – they finished
last with 21 points. Apart from Colon, the struggle for survival was
fierce - in the final table 6 points separated 7th from
17th place.

San Lorenzo de Almagro (Buenos Aires)
lost the battle by a point and finished 17th with 28
points. Along with Colon, one of the strongest teams in the early
1970s was relegated.

Other clubs in bad shape were:
Argentinos Juniors, which without Maradona immediately dropped from
title contender to just trying to escape relegation – they finished
16th with 29 points.

Talleres (Cordoba) finished also with
29 points, but better goal-difference placed the 15th.

Estudiantes (La Plata) were 14th.
Velez Sarsfield was 11th. These the clubs in bad shape
this year. The opposite way took two teams.

Sarmiento (Junin) finished 13th.
Nothing special, at first glance, but they were debutantes and prime
candidates for relegation. But the modest newcomers fought to the end
and ensured at least one more season among the best.

The second team was a pleasant
surprise and, if we move the focus from Maradona, the most
interesting thing in Argentine football this year. About them – in
a moment.

Racing
Club had a relatively good season – they finished 5th,
ahead of local rivals Independiente. Not a bad squad, but just a
promising one at the moment. Hugo Barbas was the veteran star,
playing back in Argentina after many years in France, Van Tuyne was
the current star player, and Calderon and Olarticoechea were fresh
upstarts, still unknown far and wide. Standing from left:
Olarticoechea, Van Tuyne, Osvaldo Pérez, Vivalda, Berta, Leroyer.

Crouching:
Calderón, Barbas, Villarruel, Carrasco, Muñiz.

River
Plate misfired – full of great names, including Tarantini and
Kempes, they finished 4th.
A point ahead of Racing, missing 3rd
place on goal-difference, and... not at all running for the title. 39
points – the contenders finished with much more.

Newell's
Old Boys edged River Plate from 3rd
place and, to a point, the team did surprisingly well – compared to
River Plate, they were nothing as names. Killer was a star, but
hardly on the level of Kempes, Alonso, Passarella, and Simon... well,
the world had still to wait many years before hearing of him. Third
place, but far away from the title – they finished with 39 points.
The silver medalists ended with 49.

Two teams competed
for the title to the very end of the championship – at the end 1
point separated them. One of the leaders was expected – Boca
Juniors. The acquisition of Diego Maradona made them instant
favourites. The other team was a big, but pleasant surprise – a
team without stars, usually modest and hardly ever making news.

Ferro
Carril Oeste, long time First Division members, but one of the
smaller clubs in Buenos Aires. And still nothing special, considering
the squad – perhaps Garre was their best known player, and he was
not exactly first-rate star. Cuper is immediately noticed today, but
this is because he became famous coach – Cuper, the player, was not
a star. Yet, this largely anonymous and modest squad not only left
River Plate far behind, but played as equals with Boca Juniors and
Maradona. They even lost fewer matches than Boca and had much better
defensive record. Unfortunately, Boca won more more matches then the
boys in green and white and they lost the title by a point. Looked
like one time wonder, this team, but they were not.

With
Diego Maradona now, Boca Juniors must have been formidable team. They
were strong before his arrival, having strong run for some time –
with him, they had to be almost unbeatable. Everything looked
perfect: young Diego was Boca fan and was delighted to see his dream
coming true. Hugo Gatti was happy to see Diego on his side instead of
scoring him humiliating goals. Diego arrived and Boca immediately won
Metropolitano – predictions fulfilled... but it was not an easy
victory at all. And considering the rival, Boca Juniors did not seem
overwhelming at all. But a title is a title.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

About Me

I am Vesselin Vesselinov, born in Bulgaria and living in Canada. Football is my hobby since childhood – not the most important part of my life, but lifelong addiction nevertheless. Playing, watching, talking and collecting football. Now I am sharing my addiction with you. Hope you enjoy it.